Peer Reviewed

1

Abstract

Aim: To investigate the effects of pregnancy on the sexual life of Turkish women

Materials and Methods: One thousand twenty six pregnant women were included in the study. The Libido Scoring System, which is a questionnaire consisting of four questions about the frequency of intercourse, the partner initiating the intercourse, orgasm and masturbation status of the pregnant women, was completed by all patients. Both pre-pregnancy and pregnancy sexuality was evaluated independently using this scale.

Results: The frequency of sexual intercourse during pregnancy significantly decreased from 3.07/week to 2.40/week (p<0.05). The masturbation rate during pregnancy was significantly lower than the pre-pregnancy period (3.6% vs 4.9 %, p<0.001). The percentage of pregnant women who never had an orgasm was significantly higher compared to the pre-pregnant period (21.7 % vs 10.8 %, p<0.01). The rates of initiation of sexual intercourse in the pre-pregnancy period by men and by women were 94.5% (970/1026) and 5.3% (54/1026) respectively. In pregnancy period the rates of initiation of sexual intercourse by man and woman were 93.4% (904/968) and 6.6% (64/968) respectively (p=0.0001). The mean libido scores during pregnancy were statistically lower than the pre-pregnancy period (6.38±0.04 vs 7.31±0.04, p<0.001).

Conclusion: Pregnancy has a negative effect on the sexual life of women, but more prospective studies are required to clarify the mechanisms.